As we’ve been doing for many years now, we’ll break down the Pittsburgh Steelers’ opponent each week, telling you what to expect from a scheme and individual player standpoint. Like last year, Josh Carney and I will cover the opposing team’s offense. I will focus on the scheme, Josh on the players.
Today, our scouting report on the Las Vegas Raiders’ offense.
Alex’s Scheme Report
Raiders’ Run Game
Like the Dallas Cowboys’ run game last week, the Las Vegas Raiders have slumped throughout the season on the ground. They have been one of the league’s worst, managing only 84 rushing yards per game, 30th in football. Their 3.9 yards per carry is tied-25th with only three rushing scores through five games.
The lead back is Zamir White with 49 rushes. But he’s barely gaining over three yards per carry and incredibly, has just three first downs despite practically 50 carries. That’s almost hard to do. His run-success rate is 24.5 percent. White did miss last week with a groin injury and his status as of this writing is unclear.
If he can’t play against the Steelers, former Minnesota Viking RB Alexander Mattison will be the main back. He led the way in Week 5 and has had a bit more success, averaging 3.9 yards on 32 carries with a pair of rushing scores. Still, his run-success rate is 31.3 percent. Of the 56 players with at least 30 carries this season, Mattison is 55th in run-success rate. White? He’s dead last at 56. There’s also Ameer Abdullah, still in the league and getting third-down work with the occasional run, busting off a big gain versus Denver in Week 5.
The Raiders no longer have a true fullback but will use a TE in the backfield from time to time, often No. 84 and former Cleveland Brown Hunter Bryant. They did have a successful Pony FB dive to Mattison on a two-point conversion late in last week’s loss. They are a tight end-heavy offense with two high-round picks on the roster (Michael Mayer, a second-rounder, has missed time with a personal issue) and occasional tackle-eligible in veteran No. 75 Andrus Peat.
On the year, the Raiders have seven runs this season of 10-plus yards, 30th in football.
Conceptually, it’s a split-zone heavy scheme. You get Y-off looks a lot with him pulling across. They try to mix it up with some split action motion to make for a quicker and easier block, like these.
There are some power/man concepts, counter runs with the backside guard pulling multiple times last week. But it’s not a staple of what they do.
The last run-game element to note is the receiver/tight end-run game. Their receivers get involved. In total, they have seven wide receiver runs and one tight end run this year. No. 11 Tre Tucker is their man receiver. With three carries this year, two have come on 1st and 10 between the Raiders’ own 20-30 yard-line and one near the goal line, a 3-yard score in Week 4 against the Cleveland Browns. I’ve also included below a run by tight end Brock Bowers for 12 yards on 1st and 10. He had 19 rushes and five touchdowns at Georgia so this is in his skill set.
Some other stats. They’re scoring 19.2 points per game, tied for 22nd in the NFL. They have just one game with more than 22 points. They’re 24th in total yards per game just under 300. Taking care of the ball has been a problem with nine turnovers this season, tied with the Minnesota Vikings and Tennessee Titans for the most in football. Their minus-seven turnover differential ties the Titans for last, too. Situationally, they are poor on third down, 22nd at 35.9 percent but they’re good in the red zone, seventh overall and finding the end zone two-thirds of the time.
Raiders’ Pass Game
There is a QB change this week, the Raiders switching from Gardner Minshew II to Aidan O’Connell. O’Connell started 10 games last year as a rookie, throwing 12 for scores and seven picks, before losing a camp battle to Minshew. He replaced Minshew midway through last week’s loss, going 10-of-20 for 94 yards, no touchdowns, and one interception. He’s been sacked a lot, 24 times last year and twice last week.
Rookie TE and first-round pick Brock Bowers has easily been their best weapon. No tight end in football has been as productive as him. Bowers leads all tight ends with 28 receptions, 313 yards and has a league-high 36 targets for the position. He has one touchdown, an explosive play in Week 5 on the Raiders’ first drive. Las Vegas has a respectable 14 completions of 20-plus yards (tied-11th) and Bowers is responsible for five of them.
WR Jakobi Meyers is second on the team with 25 grabs and 273 yards. He also has one touchdown. Five different Raiders have one score this year, Las Vegas spreading the ball around a fair bit. Star WR Davante Adams won’t play due to his hamstring injury.
Conceptually, it’s no surprise they find ways to feed Bowers the ball. Alert first down RPO with Bowers as the No. 3 on a bubble route, a way to get blockers in space and pick up a few yards to get drives going.
And watch for Bowers isolated on the backside of 3×1 or as a fullback, the latter turning into a FB wheel that narrowly fell incomplete.
The Raiders are a heavy under center/play-action team that likes to run Yankee/Wasp-like concepts of breaking to the post before breaking to the sideline.
Last thing. They’ll use full slides against interior blitz/overload looks. Pittsburgh can potentially run some stunts or disguise some blitzes along with forcing a TE like Bowers to stay in with some of these rushes if they choose to call them. Watch No. 89 have to stay in here on this last clip.
Josh’s Individual Report
It’s Raiders week, Steelers fans!
With it comes a trip out west to the strip to take on the Las Vegas Raiders at Allegiant Stadium for the second year in a row.
This time, things will look quite a bit different from just one season before. The Raiders will be without star receiver Davante Adams due to injury and a trade request on top of it, and Jimmy Garoppolo is no longer the Raiders’ starting QB.
Heck, neither is Gardner Minshew II. After just five starts the Raiders made a change, turning to second-year pro Aidan O’Connell, who will make his 11th career start Sunday.
O’Connell started 10 games as a rookie and went 5-and-5 for Las Vegas. He’s a guy who sees the field at a decent rate and processes quickly. He doesn’t have a big arm, but he throws with good anticipation and can hit plays down the field with his timing and accuracy.
He’s also a bit of an underrated athlete who has good feel in the pocket and doesn’t lose any accuracy or ball placement when on the move.
O’Connell is not much different from Minshew, though, outside of the turnovers. So we’ll see how he fares this week.
Unfortunately for O’Connell, he’s severely limited from a playmaker perspective around him. Adams is down and likely out in the next few weeks, while wide receiver Jakobi Meyers is banged up as well.
If Meyers can’t play Sunday that would be a big blow for O’Connell as the two showed great rapport in 2023 once O’Connell was inserted into the lineup.
Meyers is a sound route runner with a great feel for leverage and space. He has sure hands, too, and is a solid blocker. Very dependable player. We’ll see if he can go against the Steelers.
Given Meyers’ uncertain status, the Raiders might be looking at a receiver lineup featuring Tre Tucker, D.J. Turner, and Tyreik McAllister. Not great!
Tucker is a speed merchant. He can hit the big plays down the field and has shown the ability to do that in a big way this season.
He will get some shots downfield and might even get some handoffs to try and utilize his speed in space. As for Turner and McCallister, there’s not much to write home about. Turner made some plays against Carolina on designed touches, but he’s not a guy who is going to be a true option in the passing game.
Same for McAllister.
O’Connell will have to lean on his tight ends heavily, and fortunately for him he has a budding star to work with in rookie Brock Bowers.
Bowers is basically a wide receiver. He’s a great route runner, has impressive speed and can create YAC in the blink of an eye.
There’s a reason he was the best tight end in the 2024 draft and one of the best offensive weapons in the class overall, too. He’s a difficult cover for linebackers and safeties and is really taking off so far in the NFL.
The Raiders can also call upon Harrison Bryant, too, whom the Steelers are very familiar with.
With Michael Mayer missing time due to personal reasons, Bryant is the de facto TE2 and has been a solid red-zone piece throughout his career. But make no mistake about it: Bowers is going to have to do a lot of the heavy lifting in the passing game on Sunday.
In the backfield, it looks like the Raiders might be without running back Zamir White again due to a groin injury. If that is the case Vegas will turn to Alexander Mattison and Ameer Abdullah again as a running back tandem.
Abdullah had a strong game against the Broncos in Week 5 and ripped off a big 40-yard run. He never quite fulfilled his potential as that true No. 1 back coming out of Nebraska, but he’ carved out a nice NFL career and is still making plays.
Mattison has been very steady for the Raiders, too. Things fell apart in Minnesota after he was given the No. 1 job, but so far in Vegas he’s making plays and looks much more explosive as a runner.
He’s doing it behind an underrated offensive line, though one that has struggled to generate much in the run game early in the season.
From left to right, here’s how I expect the Raiders to line up in the trenches Sunday:
LT — Kolton Miller
LG — Jackson Powers-Johnson (rookie)
C — Andre James
RG — Dylan Parham
RT — Thayer Munford Jr.
Miller, Munford, Powers-Johnson and Parham are all dealing with injuries, which could affect their status on Sunday. Right now, it seems like all but Munford will go. Munford did not play last week against Denver and then missed practice Wednesday, so that throws a wrench into things.
If Munford can’t go, DJ Glaze will be in the lineup.
Powers-Johnson is a player the Steelers are quite familiar with, having done a ton of work on him ahead of the 2024 NFL draft before the Raiders snagged him in the second round. Ultimately the Steelers landed Zach Frazier for the center position, so it’s worked out well.
This group really needs to try and establish a run game. The Raiders are 30th in the league in rushing at 84 yards per game. The Cowboys are 31st and had great success against the Steelers a week ago, so maybe there is a formula there.
On special teams, the Raiders have a good kicker and punter tandem.
Daniel Carlson is 8-for-10 on the season with a long of 53 yards. He’s a strong-legged kicker who gives the Raiders the ability to put points on the board once they cross midfield.
AJ Cole is arguably one of the best punters in football. Huge leg, booms punts and flips fields. He’s averaging 52.4 yards on 22 punts this season. He has a long of 67 yards on the season and is a major weapon for the Raiders.
In the return game, Abdullah handles the kickoff returns. He has a long of 35 yards on the season and is averaging 27.6 yards. Tucker handles the punt returns and is very dangerous in the open field. He has a long of 21 yards on the season, so the Steelers will have to be on top of their game in punt coverage.
